Google Images is a useful resource that allows searchers to find images on the web related to their search inquiry. Your images may also show up in the standard Google results e.g. searching for "747" displays a bunch of aircraft images as well as the standard results.
However, did you know that Google will not index images on your Joomla site? Your Joomla site includes a file called robots.txt that tells the search engines what they can and cannot look at on your site. By default, Joomla prevents search engines from looking inside your images folder. There is no reason for this so here's how to fix it:
- FTP into your site and download your robots.txt file
- Open this in a plain text editor - if you're using Windows, use Notepad not Microsoft Word
- Find the line labeled Disallow: /images/ and delete it
- Save your amended robots.txt file and upload it to your site
- The next time that Google (or any other search engine that provides image indexing) visits your site, they will look at and potentially index your images.
Just like normal search results, the likelihood of your images appearing high up the rankings will depend on the Google algorithm and there are some things you can do to help. Firstly make sure you are targeting the right keyword. In this example I will choose "Boeing 747". Name the image using your keyword so in this example it would be boeing-747.jpg. Then when you insert your image, ensure you include your keyword in both the alt and title tags. So my end result would be:
Only include one keyword per page. If you have a second image, choose a different keyword.
I hope this tip helps to get you more visitors.
